HORSE BETTING

• Rachel Alexandra Takes on Older Guys in Woodward

  Posted on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT by Greg Melikov

  
  

  The $750,000 Woodward Stakes is named for the breeder and horse owner that chaired the Jockey Club from 1930 to ’50, the breed registry for thoroughbreds in North America.
   
  William Woodward’s famous Belair Stud colors (white silks with cherry red dots) were carried to victory 631 times from ’23 to ’53. Belair Stable, part of Belair Stud, was one of the premier racing outfits.
   
  Woodward winners included the father-son Triple Crown duo of Gallant Fox in ’30 and ’Omaha in ’35. He also owned Nashua, ’55 Horse of the Year who only lost as a 3-year-old in the Kentucky Derby, but defeated victorious Swaps in a match race.
   
  Until closing in ’57, Belair Stable in Bowie, Md., was the oldest continually operated horse farm in the United States that dated back 250 years. It was later restored and is a museum open to the public.
   
  The last sophomore to capture the 1 1/8-mile contest was Easy Goer in ’89, only the 12th in 55 renewals. But that’s the only thing he has in common with Rachel Alexandra.
   
  While the colt ran second to Sunday Silence in the Preakness 20 years ago, Alexandra the Great won this year’s middle Triple Crown jewel. And she is trying to become the first female to take the Woodward after beating horses her own age for the second time in the Haskell Invitational.
   
  Five horses that captured the Woodward since ’84, when the Breeders’ Cup Classic was launched, were voted Horse of the Year after winning both races. All were great champions: Saint Liam, ’05; Ghostzapper, ’04; Skip Away, ’98; Cigar ’95; and Alysheba, ’88.
   
  Two other Woodward champs also were awarded top thoroughbred honors: Curlin, ’08, and Mineshaft, ’03.
   
  Some great thoroughbreds won the Woodward multiple times since the inaugural was staged at a mile in ’54 when 6-year-old Pet Bully triumphed. The purse was $43,700.
   
  Forego snared four straight beginning in ’74 and was Horse of the Year three consecutive times ending in ’76. Kelso, the top thoroughbred ’60-64, won three straight Woodwards beginning in ’61.
   
  Alexandra the Great, the morning line 1-2 favorite that will break from post 3, worked Monday for the final time before Saturday’s race, breezing a half-mile in 49 seconds, galloping out five furlongs in 1:02 1/5.  
   
  The filly goes for her seventh consecutive victory of the year, more than twice as many of any in the eight-horse field, with regular rider Calvin Borel aboard.
   
  The top two finishers in the Whitney are entered, including triumphant Bullsbay. Five-year-old son of The Hess, 6-1 second choice that drew post 2, goes for his fourth win of ’09 with Jeremy Rose rides. Runner-up Macho Again, 8-1, with Robbie Albarado aboard, breaks from post 5. 
   
  The remaining field: coupled entry Da’ Tara, post 1, Jose Lezcano, and Cool Coal Man, post 4, John Velazquez, 12-1; It’s a Bird, post 6, Julien Leparoux, 10-1; Asiatic Boy, post 7, Alan Garcia, 10-1; and Past the Point, second to Curlin in last year’s Woodward, post 8, Edgar Prado, 15-1.